San Rafael officials have unveiled a preliminary design for the planned renovation of Third Street, which includes wider sidewalks and a two-lane bike path along a section of Second Street.
The renovation project is set to take place along a portion of Third Street between Union and Second streets and along a section of Second Street between West and Shaver streets.
The city has hired CSW/Stuber-Stroeh Engineering Group, Inc. to design the project and complete an environmental review, which is set to be finalized this winter. Construction on the project is expected to start in May and take about a year. The work is expected to cause traffic delays, according to city officials.
The design work is nearing completion, city officials said. A community “check-in” on the project is planned for this winter, said Robert Stevens, principal at CSW/Stuber-Stroeh Engineering Group.
The project calls for repaving the roadway, installing new traffic signals and creating curb bulb-outs, which are “extensions into the roadway that promote pedestrian visibly and eased crossing of the street,” Stevens said. As a result, the roadway will be narrowed.
Installing a bike path is another major initiative for the project, according to Stevens.
“We know that there is a real big interest in improving bicycle access along Second Street,” Stevens told the City Council last month.
The preliminary design shows a two-way bike path along the south side of Second Street between West and East streets with a barrier between the path and the roadway. Thirteen parking space would be installed along the northern edge of the path.
“The challenge in this is that to get these parking stalls in here, we must narrow the medians, and in narrowing the medians, three trees would need to be removed,” Stevens said.
Project designers plan to plant 50 new trees along Second and Third streets, he added.
But some residents said they were concerned about the three trees that are slated for removal.
“These are London Plane and Ginkgo trees just reaching their prime after decades of growth, with perhaps another century of growth in front of them,” Nancy Hughes, executive director of the California Urban Forests Council, wrote in a letter to city officials. “Among the best Marin species for carbon capture, these three trees already sequester over a ton of greenhouse gas annually.”
Hughes suggested removing several parking spaces from the design in order to keep the three trees.
Bill Carney, president of Sustainable San Rafael, agreed.
“This is a stretch of roadway where nature, in the form of our iconic hillsides, asserts herself into the lives of thousands of people daily; she should be recognized and celebrated with a different design approach for this block, that is, a pleasant path for both walkers and cyclists, and preservation of well established trees,” Carney wrote to the City Council.
The project also calls for reconfiguring the intersection where Third Street meets Lindaro Street and Lootens Place. The driveway into the Walgreens parking lot along Third Street would be sealed off, forcing cars to use the driveway along Lootens Place to enter the lot. Such a configuration would add two parking spots to the Walgreens lot, reduce car congestion and create a safer walkway for pedestrians on Third Street, according to Stevens.
“I think it’s a terrific project and I’m in favor of it,” said Mayor Gary Phillips.
The one-way, westbound Third Street is among the city’s busiest thoroughfares, carrying 30,000 cars daily, according to city officials. It serves as a major connecting point between Highway 101 and communities in West Marin.
Though Third Street is heavily used by drivers, city officials say it’s imperative to create safer pedestrian access along the road. Third Street sits between one of the city’s major commercial hubs along Fourth Street and the homes and businesses to the south.
The total estimated cost of the project will be determined when the design process is completed, according to city officials.
Funding for the project comes primarily from Measure A, a sales tax approved by voters in 2004 that pays for major road improvement projects in Marin. The sales tax revenue, which is administered by the Transportation Authority of Marin, will contribute $11 million toward the Third Street overhaul. An additional $1.5 million has been awarded to the project through a state grant.
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December 04, 2020 at 07:16AM
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San Rafael unveils early design for Third Street overhaul - Marin Independent Journal
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